The combination of so much available sensory input, so many tasks on the to-do list of the modern teenager, and the prevalence of so many examples of teachers, parents, politicians, and other adults who provide a bad example have created the illusion that multi-tasking is useful, achievable, and efficient -- when for most people it does not even exist.

As part of the goal of forming the "habits of mind" necessary to become a digital citizen, this proposal will develop a multi-day, multi-pronged approach to showing each student the reality of multi-tasking through actual in-class experiments, reflections on readings from psychiatry, neuro-science, and business people, and culminate in a class-developed plan to begin eliminating task/attention switching behavior from our daily lives.

Day 1/Pre-work: Journal Reflection on Habits of homework and multitasking

Day 2: Experiments in multi-tasking (large group and small group/teams) - In-class Discussion

Day 4: Group work/Team work - The FIVE THINGS TO CHANGE project - development of a "campaign" around five habits for students to adopt that will break them out of the task-switching cycle.

Day 5: Gallery Walk and development of the classroom version of the TOP FIVE

(Note: extension projects/cross application could include the development of a public awareness campaign for the school that would make use of tools to develop inforgraphics/animatics, social media videos, etc.)